Under a giant penguin sign, this is the diner that marks the end of Route 66

Famous signs on the astir 2,500 miles of Route 66 see the 66-foot soda vessel astatine Pops successful Oklahoma, the wagging neon process of Albuquerque’s Dog House and the hand-painted slogans for Snow Cap Drive-In successful Arizona. But successful L.A., nary is truthful iconic arsenic the elephantine looming penguin that signifies milkshakes, burgers, oldies playlists and sheer Americana astatine the extremity of the road.

Stories, photos and question recommendations from America’s Mother Road

Technically, the Mother Road that stretches from Chicago to the West Coast ends astatine the Santa Monica Pier, but Mel’s Drive-In declares the “ROUTE ENDS HERE,” inlaid successful terrazzo beneath that jumbo tuxedoed penguin. It’s been a beacon for decades, and though the beloved edifice abstraction precocious was listed for merchantability for $26 million, Mel’s owners anticipation it remains a diner and destination for generations.

For overmuch of its history, the diner astatine the extremity of Route 66 was the 1959-founded Penguin Coffee Shop, a Googie-architecture marvel of angular windows, stone walls and small cartoons of penguins hanging supra swivel stools and an unfastened kitchen.

The archetypal penguin motion from the erstwhile Penguin Coffee Shop inactive stands astatine Mel’s Drive-In successful Santa Monica.

As a precise young kid I retrieve sliding into the booths with my father, whose bureau was adjacent connected Wilshire. Back then, the gangly angled ceilings seemed to soar and the meal combos looked mountainous.

“It was a Googie benignant of edifice — you know, we don’t person that galore of them astir anymore,” my dada recalls. “It had an aura of roadside diner astir it. … Everybody would spot the elephantine penguin retired there. I don’t deliberation Burgess Meredith ever ate there, though.” The gag takes maine a bushed earlier landing; my mentation of Batman’s Penguin volition ever beryllium Danny DeVito.

“It was a Googie benignant of edifice — you know, we don’t person that galore of them astir anymore,” the writer’s dada recalls.

We’d sojourn each period oregon two, until the Penguin closed its doors successful 1991 and transformed into a Western Dental office, which kept the penguin motion but dropped those precocious ceilings and removed the room on with different hallmarks of its roadside charm. Thankfully, its travel didn’t extremity there.

The Weiss family, which founded Mel’s Drive-In diner successful 1947, had been eyeing the spot for years and signed a lease successful 2016. Then determination was the nexus to their ain history: The prolific Armet & Davis architecture steadfast designed the Penguin arsenic good arsenic the existent location of Mel’s Sherman Oaks.

“When the dentist bureau went retired of business,” said co-owner Colton Weiss, “it seemed similar a no-brainer to marque it Mel’s and bring it backmost to the glory days of being a diner.”

What followed were 2 years of “very expensive” renovations, according to the third-generation Mel’s owner.

Beyond the iconic penguin motion — which obtained “historically oregon architecturally significant” designation successful 2000 — Mel’s pays homage with the ample sculptural, custom-made solid globe lights, which replicate the original’s. The Weisses hired plot specialists to reappraisal decades-old photos of the Penguin Coffee Shop to find which varieties of flowers decorated the beforehand of the restaurant, past they replanted them.

Since the building’s reopening successful 2018, thousands of guests person ended the travel on Route 66 with a repast successful the diner.

While sledgehammering drywall, they uncovered the diner’s archetypal stone wall. Along a hallway adjacent the bathrooms, a tiny assemblage of Penguin Coffee Shop photos offers different glimpse of the predecessor. This determination besides features a marshmallow-and-chocolate-sauce Penguin Shake successful grant of the tuxedoed mascot of the original.

It wasn’t until they were adjacent to signing a woody that they realized it sat on Route 66.

“We’re similar Route 66 authorities now,” said Weiss, whose father, Steven Weiss, was mostly liable for the restoration.

Since the building’s reopening successful 2018, owners accidental thousands of guests person ended their travels with a repast successful the diner. They bustle done the doors aft the agelong journey, sometimes bedecked successful Route 66 merchandise, and sometimes buying Mel’s ain marque of Route 66 merch portion there.

Atmosphere and details of Mel’s Drive-in Diner.

“We had a feline bash it successful a ’67 Chevy, that was connected his bucket list: Older feline who did it with his wife, and it was a convertible,” said Weiss. “He did it successful summertime, truthful by the clip helium showed up helium was covered successful particulate and dirt. He couldn’t beryllium happier to marque it to Mel’s and get a burger.”

Another, helium said, did the full way connected a bicycle.

The diner offers certificates of completion for those who decorativeness the trek, and devised a burger named for the route. A food vessel astatine the entranceway features a Route 66 theme, arsenic does a mural connected a tiny partition of the parking lot. Two authoritative signs, placed by the city, denote the location’s significance.

“The metropolis knew there’d beryllium renewed involvement successful a diner being the existent ending of Route 66,” Weiss said. “Before, I don’t cognize anybody who’d privation to extremity their travel astatine a dentist’s office. Maybe idiosyncratic who broke their teeth connected the way.”

But the trail’s extremity could someday spot its ain end. The spot was listed for merchantability successful 2025. Representatives for the building’s absorption institution didn’t respond to requests for comment.

“We’re trying to support it determination arsenic agelong arsenic possible,” Weiss said. “People truly bask this location, and it seems similar 1 of the past diners successful Santa Monica.” Weiss declined to remark further.

Mel’s adjunct manager Yazmin Minguelasays she sees much travelers present due to the fact that it’s the centennial of Route 66. “But adjacent earlier that, we inactive had a batch of visitors.”

She’s worked for Mel’s 22 years, six of which person been spent successful the Santa Monica restaurant. Her shifts are afloat of Westside regulars, celebrities and guests finishing their travel on Route 66.

“Ending connected a diner — adjacent though that’s not truly the extremity of Route 66 — is nostalgia,” my dada mused. “Having a spot similar Mel’s, which is simply a substitute for the benignant of flea-bitten ptomaine joints that you mightiness get on Route 66, brings backmost memories to precise aged people. And precise caller radical inquire questions like, ‘Who’s Burgess Meredith?’”

Mel’s Drive-In is unfastened astatine 1670 Lincoln Blvd., Santa Monica, Sunday to Thursday from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 7 a.m. to midnight.